startup Circle: Megha Gambhir CEO & Co-Founder, Stupa Sports Analytics

Stupa Sports Analytics, a sports tech company, offers AI-powered solutions for advanced analytics, sports digitization, broadcasting, and more. Recently, Stupa secured funding from Centre Court Capital and Peer Capital in its Pre-Series A round. This investment is driving their expansion and the aggressive integration of AI and Gen-AI into their solutions, especially as they explore emerging sports like badminton, padel, and pickleball. We will explore how Stupa leverages technology to elevate these sports, enhance viewer and fan experiences, and assist broadcasters and commentators in creating engaging narratives, similar to the impact seen in cricket and football.

Megha Gambhir is the CEO and Co-Founder of Stupa Sports Analytics, a company offering advanced sports analytics, broadcasting, and digitization tools. She co-founded Stupa in 2020 with her husband, Deepak Malik, and oversees growth, strategy, fundraising, and marketing. Megha holds a Master's degree in Computer Applications and a Bachelor's degree in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. Her 15-year corporate career includes roles with the World Bank, United Nations, PepsiCo India, and American Express. She left her job to bridge traditional sports management with modern technology, winning the Global InvestHer Summit 2023 in Paris. Outside of work, she enjoys yoga, dance, meditation, traveling, sampling hot cocoa, and reading.

In an exclusive interview with Ciol, Megha Gambhir, CEO and Co-Founder of Stupa Sports Analytics, shared insights on how Stupa plans to leverage AI and Gen-AI to boost the popularity and visibility of emerging sports like padel and pickleball. She discussed specific strategies and initiatives being implemented to achieve this goal.

Can you tell us about the founding of Stupa Sports Analytics? What inspired the creation of the company, and what was the initial vision?

The idea behind Stupa Sports Analytics traces back to a moment of inspiration from the movie Miracle in 2011, when Deepak Malik (Co-Founder and COO),  was the national coach of the Indian table tennis team. Seeing how data-driven strategies propelled the US team to Olympic gold, ignited Deepak’s vision to harness technology to elevate his players' performances.

In 2018, Megha Gambhir, Founder & CEO and Deepak’s wife, was on a career break, when she picked up her husband’s problem statement. Leveraging her deep expertise and 15+ years of experience in technology, along with Deepak’s coaching insights, the couple developed a player performance tool. At the time, they were working with Manav Thakkar, an incredible talent who was struggling to perform at the international level. However, within a year of figuring his specific areas to improve upon, he reached the world #1 ranking in the under-19 category. 

At the same time, the founders realised that a lot of sports were struggling with this problem statement. Not just at a player level, but even at the administrative level, where they are looking to grow the way cricket, soccer or basketball have evolved.

While testing proof of concept, Stupa caught the eye of the ITTF who invited them to present their work in one of their sports science congresses. Eventually, two years after working on this problem statement, Stupa was founded.

Today, Stupa Sports Analytics transcends its origins, offering a comprehensive solution for sports organizations through a centralized platform. The company leverages cutting-edge AI tech and creativity to elevate fan engagement, creating immersive and personalized experiences. Their vision is to seamlessly blend technology with sports, offering a dynamic and interactive platform that captivates audiences globally. The organisation believes in the power of AI to not only enhance the sporting experience, but also to create a deeper connection between fans and the game.

How does Stupa plan to use AI and Gen-AI to increase the popularity and visibility of emerging sports like padel and pickleball? Can you share specific strategies or initiatives you are implementing?

Stupa Cast brings a new level of excitement to the world of sports broadcasting. By integrating AI tech into live pickleball/padel matches, Stupa Cast aims to enhance the viewing experience for fans by providing them with real-time statistics and insights. Our object tracking tech can precisely track ball, their rackets, player movement and positioning. This data is then transformed into captivating engaging stats, allowing viewers to to analyse each shot and gain insights on player/team tactics.

Stupa's AI-driven insights are transforming how broadcasters and commentators engage with audiences. Can you elaborate on how these insights help create more compelling narratives and enhance the overall viewer and fan experience?

Stupa's ability to consolidate media and data from tournaments creates valuable intellectual property for rightsholders. By harnessing AI technology, Stupa generates real-time statistics for live matches, empowering commentators to deliver insightful narratives backed by hard data, thereby enhancing the viewing experience for fans.

Moreover, the applications of AI can also be extended to viewing experiences for fans. Today, advancements in augmented reality (AR) can be coupled with real-time data generation by AI to enhance fan engagement and create immersive experiences. AR enhances live broadcasts by overlaying intuitive graphical representations onto live content. Statistics such as game patterns, player comparisons, movement data, and posture analysis can be conveyed effectively using AR to create visualizations such as heat maps and charts, enhancing storytelling and providing a larger-than-life experience for viewers. Such solutions are often customized to meet the needs of diverse audiences, allowing sports broadcasters to provide tailored experiences.

Performance analytics is a core service of Stupa. How are your AI-powered solutions specifically aiding athletes in table tennis, badminton, padel, and pickleball to improve their performance and achieve their goals?

At the core of our implementation of AI is a real-time object-tracking technology that meticulously captures the movement of the ball and players in real-time during live matches or from recorded footage. This data is then used to generate valuable statistics such as ball speeds, elbow angles at time of striking the ball, forehand/backhand success rates etc. This data can be used to empower athletes and coaches with actionable insights, personalized training programs and performance optimization tools.

With the recent funding, Stupa is poised for significant growth. What are the key steps and strategies you are taking to expand into new sports, and how do you envision this expansion shaping the future of sports analytics?

We will be utilizing our latest fundraiser to hire AI/ML experts, and expand to new geographies and sports, especially emerging sports such as padel and pickleball. Our overall plan after the funding announcement is to target key markets such as the US, UK, Australia and the Middle East, while strengthening presence in Europe and Asia.

With strategic partnerships with over 10+ sports federations, Stupa will now utilize the freshly infused funds to enhance its product for other sports — badminton, pickleball, padel, along with multi-sport capabilities. 

The integration of AI and Gen-AI in sports technology is rapidly evolving. What are some of the most exciting advancements you foresee in sports analytics, and how is Stupa positioning itself to stay at the forefront of these innovations?

Technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, has completely revolutionized how sports performance analysis and management are approached, offering numerous advantages to the industry. Having established a strong foothold in table tennis, we are now expanding to other racket sports, especially some of the fastest growing sports in pickleball and padel.

One significant advantage of AI and data analytics in sports is their ability to gather and analyze vast amounts of data in real-time. By utilizing sensors, wearables, and tracking devices, one can collect data on various aspects of their performance, including speed, distance covered, heart rate and biomechanical movements. This data provides coaches with invaluable insights into player fitness levels, workload management, and areas for improvement.

Additionally, AI-driven algorithms can analyze this data to uncover patterns, trends, and correlations that may not be immediately obvious to human coaches. For instance, AI can identify subtle changes in a player's movement patterns that could signal an increased risk of injury or suggest modifications to training routines for optimal performance.

Another key benefit is the customization of training programs. Through AI and data analytics, coaches can tailor training programs to suit individual players based on their specific strengths, weaknesses and injury histories. This personalized approach maximizes each player's potential while minimizing the likelihood of overtraining or injury.

Furthermore, AI and data analytics have also transformed game strategy and decision-making processes. Coaches can utilize predictive analytics to simulate various game scenarios, assess potential outcomes, and make well-informed decisions in real-time. This strategic advantage can significantly impact the outcome of matches in highly competitive sports environments.